Belzebuth
by Yorobot
Summary: A homage to Dédé Fortin. Blaze has to find a husband so she becomes queen. Might this black cat, Belzebuth, singer in the group The Roommates, be the one for her? Songfic, oneshot, POV story, please R&R. Explanation on the inspiration at the end. BlazeOC


Belzebuth (Songfic)

Summary: On my own translation of the French song Belzebuth. Blaze, now 19, has to find a prince for her reign. Might this black cat, singer in the group The Roommates, be the one for her? Blaze/OC. My first first-person fic.  
Rated: T  
Genre: Romance/Drama  
Couple: BlazeOC, Blazebuth, Blaze/Belzebuth  
Note: My first songfic-only fanfiction. It`s very long, something like ten thousand words I guess, because the song itself is very long, nine minutes and a half, and over a thousand words long. It`s also my first POV fanfic, with a sometimes switching POV. There will be some references to literature and music, and if you do not understand, I`ll explain later the many references.  
Need the song? /watch?v=9ua_GTw23P4

I do not own Blaze and many plot details, and the overall plot is based on a true story. The rest blends in with the Sonic universe.

* * *

Belzebuth`s POV

The whole room was full. No matter what you would try, there was no way you`d find your way in this crowd of people dancing, arms up in the air, to the music on stage. And who was on stage? Me. Belzebuth the cat. Famous singer of the group The Roommates, singing my masterpiece.

"Dala-la-la-la-la-la-aaaaa…"

That song was always demanding a lot to my band. First off, it`s one of the longest songs I`ve ever heard, with a whopping nine minutes and twenty-five seconds on our album "October Outside". I was taking out all my breath for the final note, which I calculated to last something like ten, maybe fifteen seconds. I felt breathless; it looked like I had sung that note for an eternity. Behind me, two dark green lizard drummers, tapping on their bongos, were going on a sped-up rhythm faster than any other song we`ve ever made. The bald eagle behind me was also running out of fingers; he`s been on his guitar, speeding up with my own gibberish, following the song that made us proud just by reading the text over and over again. The flutist, a fox, good friend of mine with enough hair to be considered an afro, was blowing the final notes too. He was almost turning purple from constant blowing.

"…aaaaa!"

Finally. Somewhere in my cat brain, I couldn`t help but think that this note had lasted a whole minute and that I would need someone else`s breath to survive. Taking out all the anger, all the negative feelings in a single ten seconds… there`s no better therapy in the whole world. As soon as it ended, the band stopped playing. I felt they were happy about it, but I could also feel tension around. Maybe because they were now waiting for the next song to begin. As soon as I recovered my breath, I heard the crowd yelling for more. It`s what we live for. We`re feeding on this acclaim and we`re addicted to it.

We ended the show with a standing ovation. Well, of course, since nobody was sitting in the first place. They were all on the free space between the tables and the stage, dancing as if they were walking on still burning coal. We got that effect on people; we make them dance. Not every group does that. Maybe it`s our little patriotic side… or it`s because of our frantic rhythm.

That night, I was surprised that the show went so well. I was eating a crappy meal, sushi again. As a cat, I love it, but after so often, it`s just… mundane. I still dream of my band being rich like Scrooge, not poor like Job. Oh well…

_I`m livin` in an apartment  
__I just arrived, an hour no less  
__Up until now, life is easy  
__But it is not yet happiness_

No, it`s not yet happiness. I have every problem meeting ends. I know we use all the same apartment, the same 5 1/2, and that`s the reason why we called ourselves The Roommates, but we don`t make a big living from music. I don`t get it. We attract hundreds, no – thousands of fans, and we still can`t pay ourselves a single party dinner in a fancy restaurant without falling below poverty. Anyone understands that? Still, our manager thinks it`s cool to keep a big part of the profits. We make most profits from our shows and the tickets.

_I went around, saw everything  
__I know my master is wealthy  
__Sharpened my claws, did my lil` things  
__But it only made me hungry_

_I`m calling my hunter instincts  
__I`m seeking a small animal  
__I see everything in the dark  
__I am a cat, so it`s normal_

No need saying that the long song is a good part of me. It`s all my life in this song, all my feelings, from boredom to love of action. From happiness to sadness. Everything, all in all. It`s not always happy, I should even say it`s sad at the end, and I remember crying when I wrote the last verses. Belzebuth is just another name for the devil. And the devil may cry. I took that stage name because of my black fur. It suits perfectly, and it goes with my rebellious feelings. I didn`t want to age. I wanted to stay 21 forever.

_And if I ever see a mouse  
__I`ll kill it like a samurai  
__To me goldfish is like sushi  
__Gotta eat them, I dunno why_

Usually it`s after this part that the music begins and the party slowly pumps up. I`ve always got that thing for Japanese stuff, as this verse proves. Well, it also reflects my rebellious feelings.

_And so my name is Belzebuth  
__Personally I think it`s dumb  
__Just who might have adopted me?  
__Maybe a couple of bourgeois_

The cat in the story is me, in a way, but is also a totally different character as well. I can`t explain it, but it`s just as if I was letting out all my negative emotions every time I sung that song. My parents were not rich, but they enriched me with a good life. It`s better than any money. As for Belzebuth, it`s just another name for the devil. An old saying where I live says that the devil`s groovy while positive god beings listen to boring music. I`d rather take the show name of something cool, right? Not to mention that the cat in the story has black fur; that`s pretty much like me. Otherwise, the name is only there because it sounds cool. My real name is Dédé… it`s said "day-day", for those who wondered. And I encourage people to pronounce my show name "bell-zay-butt", `cause it sounds better than "bell-zee-boot".

_But here it is boring as hell  
__This house is just a waiting room  
__Outside everything looks so well  
__Come on, get me outta my gloom_

I can`t say anything else on that. My apartment is so boring that I feel like aging four thousand years every second. Actually, I`m even happy when I leave it for any show. It`s on stage that my darkness disappears, when I have fun singing for everyone to listen. And when I see everyone dancing or mumbling the lyrics to my band`s songs. I live for action, I can`t stand to wait. But there`s another thing bugging me off since many months…

_A month ago I saw a cat  
__I nicknamed her Elyzabeth  
__Elyzabeth and Belzebuth  
__Well in my ears, the beat is good_

There`s this cat girl I`m looking at since some time. Been many years actually, not just a month. _I nicknamed her Elyzabeth_, because her real name is a pain to pass through my vocal chords. She`s just my age, nineteen years old. It is just too difficult to think about her, she`s sexy, and I heard around that she was someone very nice. I`m feeling like an upside-down Cinderella… I`m just a poor cat making a living on party and music, while she does not even need to make a living; she`s a queen. Yes, I`m in love with Blaze the Cat, the one and only. I had already an eye on her when we were kids; her parents, King and Queen, wanted her to be with the normal people, so that she sees how they live. There`s no better training for royal duty than live with the people itself. Then, as she grew up for high school, we periodically lost her from sight, because her parents knew that teenagers feel rebellious and that she might make big mistakes. Like getting pregnant after the junior prom… she was always surrounded by many guards. And these guards are lead by a big cat, which has a pretty dangerous weapon. I know she`s out of reach, I can only dream. I have hundreds of female fans for me, and I get to fall in love with the one I will never have… how romantic. I never knew I could be a Romeo… If you look well, Elyzabeth contains all the letters in the Queen`s name… ELyZABeth… which I can't have yet…maybe that`s just a coincidence but the other letters spell out "yet"… and the H might go for "have". Funny. Can't get ELYZABETH, can`t Have BLAZE YET… playing on words gives some cool surprises once in a while. Pondering on the whole thing, I sat in front of the television and turned it on.

_And then I`ve been watching TV  
__A documentary on panthers  
__Well, it kinda inspired me  
__But commercials just got on my nerves_

That little part is vital for later in the song, as you might know if you already heard it or read it completely. Panthers, eh? Why? I`ve never seen anthro panthers, and I`m really wondering if they would be as wild as these ones from "Earth"… if this planet exists, of course. The documentary on at this hour was not about panthers, it was about something else. I was half listening only, I didn`t pay attention, and I lost most of it. Can't even tell you the subject. I turned off the television after the tenth commercial in the same break.

We got problems too, sadly. One of us is addicted to white powder, and let me tell you it`s not flour, sugar or salt. I really mean it, he`s a drug addict. A cool dude, as long as he is not chilled out by the stuff. We`re lucky he`s never sniffing it here. It`s one of the two lizard brothers. As for the drummer, he`s on alcohol. When we were working on "October Outside", he got a big problem because of alcohol. He was at the hospital for a long time, and for him, we composed "Alone". My drummer is a chameleon, and he`s got a thick English accent.

Also, a past emmber of my band was a French dude, the best harmonica player we`ve ever seen. He was so good that nobody could rival him on a solo of harmonica. However, he had AIDS, and he died from it. For him we made the song "November Out", which is a spoken song, froma dying man`s point of view. R.I.P. Patrick Espo Di Napo.

_Ah, tomorrow, Sunday  
__Another day, anyway  
__I`ll go, I`ll go down on the street  
__I`ll go where my heart`s calling me  
__There`s no way I will spend my life  
__Imprisoned in my little head  
__I am a rebellious feline  
__I will keep calm just when I`m dead_

Those words keep coming back in my mind tonight. It's the chorus to Belzebuth. I can`t them off my head. I`m always going in the street, usually. To party and forget about life for a while. This depressive life. There`s no way I will spend my life imprisoned in my little head, moping about my problems and my friends` troubles. I am a rebellious feline, I will keep calm just when I`m dead, because if I cool down too long, I will fall in depression, need to see a psychiatrist, get even below poverty, and be in a forever down. Party is not only a word for me, it`s my anti depression. See people be happy is what keeps me up. And also hope. Hope for what? Nothing, just hope, no reason. I of course hope for my pals to get better.

Ugh, it caught me again. I always feel like this apartment is small. Too small for me. And I just got the optical illusion that the walls got closer of a few inches all of a sudden.

_It`s not my place, I can guess it  
__It`s gonna end up killing me  
__The look, the smell, all goes with it  
__I would rather now stop breathing_

_The cat that was there before me  
__Committed suicide before Christmas  
__A big headed, depressive puss,  
__Which just jumped off the balcony_

In the song`s story, Belzebuth is a newly adopted cat who now lives with human owners. This part of the song is also a sad part, because usually, cat just don`t jump off a balcony for the fun of it, right? We always land on out paws, as long as we want to… The idea of the previous cat`s suicide was somehow taken after we noticed how bad our life was… as if that cat was our depression and had killed itself to end our suffering. Which leads to the next verse…

_It`s not my bad if every time  
__An intense joy goes up in me  
__It just comes up naturally  
__I`m chemically made to party_

Coming in and out of depression is always a difficult thing so we always try staying on the bright side and not think about our problems. See people happy is our to live; it`s sad that we are not really this happy in real life… but inside me, despite my depression, I know I am "chemically made to party". Because I love to party. I get caught red-handed in the action and willingly admit my fault.

_I might be having a sad fate  
__No one`s taking me seriously  
__I`m true jealous, but secretly  
__Of the depth of unfortunate_

No one will ever take me seriously. You know that impresario I mentioned earlier? He never listens when I say I`m in desperate need of a part of the disks and the shows` profits. My fans won`t listen to my darker side, as they usually associate me to happy music… as long as they do not go and listen to them to the second degree. I`m not going to go see a psychologist of some sort, because medias will take it and lower my image.

I am depressed myself, but in a strange way, my apparent happiness makes me wonder how really depressed people do. Their depth of mind astonishes me. I consider myself a poet: I wonder how Baudelaire could keep up with his dark images. I wonder how other famous poets, who left forever a work of art after their death became legends of literature. I`ll never even reach their ankle. But I still consider some of my best songs to be worthy for that. If Belzebuth the singer fades into future memories, maybe Belzebuth the song will stay as a poem.

Oh, the chorus is once again torturing my mind. Tomorrow, Sunday, another day anyway, I`ll go, I`ll go down in the street, I`ll go where my heart`s calling me… There`s no way I will spend my life imprisoned in my little head, I am a rebellious feline, I will keep calm just when I`m dead… It keeps popping in and out. It`s too real for me, maybe. I heard of people who liked their image so much that they wanted it to age instead of them… I never want to grow old; I want my masterpiece to go through the ages. Like Dorian Grey, who could see what he would have looked like after a long time… but we all know how it ended.

_Nearly asleep in a corner  
__I hear my bourgeois are talking  
__I am a cat without terror  
__Might they be talking about me?_

I am a singer, I hate being ignored. I feel weird when I`m listening; I got to be the one talking. It`s a way to see things. But the truth is deeper than that, I always hear medias talking about our band, and sometimes I almost think they`re talking about other bands. We`re acclaimed like a play written by Shakespeare with marvelous actors in the main roles. I never knew we were so great, I`m surprised by our success. I got fan girls, my musicians too; my flutist goes in a different bed each month, if not each week. We really live for drugs, sex and rock and roll… just replace "rock and roll" by "any type of music we care to do, might it be reggae, rock, rap, whatever." How many girlfriends did I have already? Over twenty. How many have passed the steps and moved on to the bedtime? Over ten. How many stayed after the sex? Only one I think. It didn't last very long. We ended when she opened the door on me and another girl, tap-dancing in perfect synch, on one of our frantic songs.

_There`s word of claws, there`s words of crotch  
__The atmosphere`s no more nice and  
__Now I am scared, no more top-notch  
__What`s a veterinarian?_

If you listened closely, you understood I`m like a cat in heat who still hasn`t been castrated. I have the fan girls, they`re all sexy, beautiful, not the kind to throw their bras on stage, calmer than that, but still crazy each time they hear our songs. In my band, we are all like that. I will never stop it… until I find the true love that will completely understand me and stay forever by my side. But I know the one I am aiming for is impossible to reach… I know, still I can`t get that lavender-colored cat out of my head. Even when there`s a fan girl sleeping right at my side in a bed, after an intense night, I can`t help but think about the queen, who will never be as free as all these girls. Wait, no – I`m not thinking of Blaze that way! I`m not a pervert! While I can get directly step after step in a few seconds with other girls, it looks like with Blaze I will never even get to the first goal in the baseball game of love.

_One of them is approaching me  
__It`s a serious look on his face  
__He`s too stupid to even get  
__All the terror in me which rises_

This part clears up the first section of the whole song. Belzebuth finally understands he`ll be castrated, so he decides to escape the operation and jumps by the window, to meet the brand new world outside.

_That`s it, that`s it I understood  
__They wanna bury me alive  
__Run Belzebuth, let`s go, it`s time  
__Run away  
__Run away  
__Run for your life  
__Hey!_

That`s what I live for: The great feeling of being on stage, in the action. The power of the alley, not the boring time in an apartment. I crave for the moment where I show the true, happy me, hidden in everyday life below a layer of depression caused by my problems. When I was young, I never had problems. I lived the great life of teenagers, without anything to care about, and it was the true me. I have never really been dark. But the impresario suggested I get it off my chest in the songs of October Outside. After the album came out, I felt so great; the sunshine of happiness was back, after erasing the fog of incertitude.

Now the music begins for real, in a jazz style, and Belzebuth steps for the first time out of his boring apartment for the outside life, full of dangers but full of good surprises as well.

_The alley awaits me, I make my own story  
__In a forward tracking, as we see in movies  
__It`s the night, it`s began and it is a party  
__Now I`m yelling "Action!", so that everyone sees_

Enough about the sad part of my life. The flames of singing, how I am almost French-kissing the microphone in front of me and tell it my words, until this mechanical repeater blows them to the crowd… pure ecstasy. I even wonder how my lizard friend keeps taking his lines of powder since he feels the same effect when playing his bongos… I`m yelling "Action", and all the cameras are on me. Some are on my musicians, I`m happy for them. I never said I deserved all the attention.

It`s just then that I hear some knocking at the door.

_In a low angle I noticed a movement  
__A fat cat over there, a total monument  
__I know nobody here, can you tell me your name?  
__Just judging by your weight I`ll call you Colonel_

I look in the spy eye of the door. I can`t see the person`s face. All I can guess from view is that it`s a cat too. I slowly open the door…

Opak`s POV

I do not know if this is a good idea. I fell on this Belzebuth`s show totally by luck on television, one day I was off from work. It doesn`t seem so, but guarding Princess Blaze the Cat from harm is not an easy thing, as she seems to have caught the disease known as "rebellion" pretty late. I can`t say why, but the time her parents, the King and Queen of Sol, kept her in private teaching, she had not shown any rebellious feelings like teenagers usually have. It looks like she caught the ill right after she was freed from learning alone with a teacher all for her, and decided she would live in her own way. Yeah, right. Being a bodyguard isn't an easy job… I listened closely to The Roommates` song named Belzebuth, and I understood most of it. I thought it was poetic.

As if it was my problem, the King and Queen ordered me to bring the Princess around and let her watch shows to raise her knowledge of the population. If she goes to watch what they watch, if she informs herself on what they live, she would reign with an attentive ear to her people, not like some kings in the past, who got their head cut off in a revolution…

Since The Roommates were quite popular, I decided to let Princess Blaze go watch one of their shows. After all, I listened to a bit more of their songs, and I soon noticed the second sense of all their songs; below their happiness, they seem to denounce poverty, amongst other things. This is exactly the type of songs Blaze has to listen to and understand the sense hidden in to understand the people she`ll reign over in the future. Thanks to this special teaching of the real life, maybe she will become the best leader Sol will ever have. Still, after hearing Belzebuth (the song) for the first time, I almost thought Belzebuth (the singer) was talking about me when Colonel entered the scene. This shocked me as I am a muscular cat with intense brutal force… not to mention my right index, which has been replaced with a knife blade after it got cut off in a battle.

_He says:  
_"_Sonny, you who looks so trustful  
__Fresh landed in this sad reality  
__Open up your ears well, I`m not gonna repeat  
__Here it is not the same, here the law it is me_

I felt weird after I heard this part; it sounded exactly like… me! I do not know why, but I seem to recognize myself in the character of Colonel… My dark blue fur with paler blue stripes on the back could prove my name… Opak. Anyone noticed Opak, turned upside-down, was "kapo"? I think it was a military term used back then. Just like "colonel"… I bet that`s where the fat cat`s name in the song comes from! Then, Elyzabeth, if I follow the logic… No, it`s only a song after all, this black cat can`t really have developed a crush on the princess. Anyway, what would the remaining letters Y, E, T and H be for?

As I arrived in front of the door, I knocked. I could hear footsteps behind… Belzebuth was coming to answer. He took some seconds, probably he was trying to figure out who it was, then he opened the door.

"Yes?"

"Belzebuth?" I asked.

"That`s me. What do you want?" He asked me, faking a smile. By a simple look, I could see he was not really happy. Maybe he was trying to go to sleep… No, it can`t be that. But I could also guess he was surprised by my height. Six feet tall, for a cat, it`s not common. But I`m a bodyguard, after all. I must be scary. My blade must scare as well.

"I have an important thing to ask you…" I entered the small apartment, and saw it was a full mess. I could see instruments scattered in a corner, an unfinished bowl of sushi on the table, and some magazines which I seriously doubted on, seeing the trademark Xs.

"What is it?" Belzebuth asked, still smiling.

"I`m here to talk affairs," I answered that fake smile of his.

"Okay… I`m not the richest cat around, I think you know who it is, but if it`s a debt I have, I can coll…"

I cut him off before he could finish the sentence. "Of course you are not the richest cat around. It is Blaze, of course. And that`s exactly the reason I`m here for."

On this, Belzebuth looked shocked. As if I was revealing him he would die in the next 24 hours. Since his jaw was wide open and drooling, I continued.

"Yeah, well… as you might know, Blaze`s parents insisted in her youth to be near the public. Listen to what they listen, see what they live, so she can reign while always having an idea on what her people lives. I was recently brought to the fact that your group`s songs, mostly the ones on your first album, look joyful at first but hide a reality. Am I right?"

Belzebuth closed his mouth, shook his head, and talked. "Yes, "Hand me the Puck" talks about poverty, and "Get out of the Way" is about drug abuse. "The Shopping Mall" is about dehumanization, should I say disanthrozation of small villages, and "Good God" mentions unemployment. As for…"

I cut him off again.

"Listen, the point is that for your next show, there will be a guest. Blaze will be there, not in the public, but on a balcony. She`ll hear your music. If she likes it, she`ll make you rich. Or give you imminent fame. Also, if she really likes it, I`ll let her listen better to the lyrics and find the meanings you hid in them."

Belzebuth`s ears perked as I said "fame". Maybe it was a retard movement as he doubted on the word "rich", I have no idea. Yet, the smile turned from fake to real.

"So you`re Blaze`s … bodyguard, right?"

"Sort of… See, I am a past caporal in the King and Queen`s army, and well…" Now I have no idea what happened. I felt like that Belzebuth guy was a friend, I could tell him anything, it would never come out of his mouth again. He was the perfect secret-holder, I felt like it. "…in a battle, I lost that claw." I showed him my index finger on the right hand, which was only a knife blade. "The claw was literally ripped off, and in an operation, it was replaced with a knife blade. Swear you won`t tell anyone a thing, or I will use it on you."

"Aye aye, Caporal," Belzebuth said jokingly.

"Don`t play smart with me." I couldn`t help but think that this Belzebuth was talking about me in the song, and a verse popped up at this time.

_Well you still got your balls, I`m surprised by that sight  
__Still got claws on your paws, you are agile as light  
__Haven`t been as lucky, got only one crotch left  
__Got the other one ripped off by a human theft_

If Colonel was me, then this was maybe a way to laugh at me… but it`s impossible. The next verse also popped in my mind.

_He also stole my claws, but I`ve been tinkering  
__I stuck a knife blade, look how it looks so shiny  
__At the end of my paw  
__In the neighborhood here, it`s the only justice  
__I use it like humans often use lead  
__Any trouble maker will soon be worse than dead_

That last statement was true. My job is to prevent any "troublemaker" from approaching Princess Blaze. And I will use that blade on my index if I need it. But now`s not the point. Lost in my thoughts, I took control back. I faced Belzebuth.

"Listen. Blaze will either like, either dislike your music. If she really likes it, you`ll be covered with gold. You will know fame, because everything Blaze likes becomes a fad. It`s like this, she got fans who will like anything she likes."

The black cat looked interested.

"However, if she hates, the media will know and soon you`ll be the lowest in the rankings."

"Wait, you`re serious on that?" Belzebuth asked.

"Yes. She likes, you`re Richie rich. She hates, and you`re in poverty. Oh, another thing..." I began.

"Yes?" The cat said.

"Like any other male in the city, it is possible that you have a crush on Blaze. If you come too near, or try anything funny… I`ll use that blade on you." Your pity look almost made me break my shell, Belzebuth. Maybe it`s because of your poverty, or it`s just that looks that make us want to reveal anything to you. A girl might know more than me on that, but just by looking at him, we can guess he lived more difficult things than anyone I know or myself.

_Well, before I`m going, just clear a little thing  
__About a rumor going around recently  
__I heard you pee anywhere, not a good idea  
__Some alley cats are already getting picky  
__Oh, see ya"_

I left the apartment, with this verse in the head. How could this part be so accurate? I heard that on Earth, cats (those four-legged monstrosities who are nearer to Chao than anthros) pee around to guard their territory. I think that`s where the reference is from. I think what Colonel says is that if he touches his property, it will be the death. Wait a minute… that`s exactly like me! If Belzebuth touches Blaze in any way, using his band singer status, I`ll drag him down. Shoot him or pierce his heart. Blaze isn't my property, but I have to protect her.

On this final thought, I left the place. I think I crossed the musicians of the band on the way back; I recognized the afro fox.

Belzebuth`s POV

I saw Opak close the door behind him. And I freaked out. I yelled of all my breath, panicked, and I`m forgetting some. Ten minutes later, my band arrived from their night. They were holding the alcoholic drummer, who was apparently too weak to walk by himself. As for the bongo player on drugs, I could see his red eyes from meters away. They had partied hard. I told them the situation, the drummer just laughed and the others rang the alarm. We HAD to be good. I tried to reason them, but the chameleon just laughed and said it was piece of cake, piece of "special iced arsenic cake", which earned him a slap behind the head. We had to be serious, he was high, but if we missed out sot, we would be down. As for the alcoholic, he was overly drunk. I knew why he was drowning his pain in alcohol. He was good friend with the guy who died some years ago from AIDS.

We practiced during three or four hours. We perfected some songs. "The Arsenic Cake" was finally more like the original, you`ll understand why later. "Bad Character" also was mastered. I liked that song, because it was a bit funny. Oh, how I miss the ambiance of my first album… Everything sounded so great in "Atrocious-Tonic"…

***

We were on the nerves the night of the show. I was wearing something different from usual. As I sometimes wore a tuque for my shows, I opted for large, anti-dust glasses held on my forehead, with the band passing under my ears. Not that I needed them, I wore them just because it looked cool. Like this blonde fox who left this style for a forehead band with a picture of a leaf. And a tuque would not have looked serious.

My alcoholic drummer sipped down at least three cups of coffee and was ready for any beat I`d ask him. My flutist was on another instrument for now; he`s talented in every wind instrument, so he took a saxophone. As for the others, they were on their own things, while I was scratching the plectrum on my guitar, to make sure the piece of plastic works well.

The place slowly filled up. Backstage, tension was rising amongst the band members. They were craving for the applauses. I slipped my head between the curtains; from afar, I could say about 20% of the seats were occupied. The ticket sell went well, I heard about 75% of the seats would have someone.

What I liked less is that this was more of a show. The people were just sitting in the room and listen. No one would dance. There`s no dance floor here. Or if there is, it`s well-hidden.

An hour passed. I read for the seven hundred thirty-seventh time my songs. When I passed the head between the curtains, I saw the room was now filled at approximately 75%. Okay, the show was gonna begin soon. I looked around, I saw Queen Blaze nowhere. I looked on the balconies, and I saw her, on a left balcony, sitting on a nicely sculpted chair with green velvet. All the grace of this lavender cat astonished me. I mean, if she`s not a queen yet, I really wonder why. But she was there. And if my fur was to turn white because of stress, I would be totally white by now. An arctic cat? Maybe, but I`m not stressed enough. I looked again at my pals.

I could see they were as much stressed as I was. The drummer was about to spill lines of powder on a table, but I removed it before the straw even reached his nostrils. He escaped a "Hey!" to which I answered it was REALLY not a good idea.

We were finally settled. 8 o`clock. The curtains opened, revealing my whole band, each on their instruments. I greeted the public, like any good artist knows how. I finally began singing. I decided that the first part of the show would be songs from our very first album. I started off with "Good God", which talks about unemployment. We sang a few songs from the first album, which earned us applauses after each song. I could hear a few laughs there and there, and my furtive eyes even caught Blaze smiling (maybe giggling?) while listening. Maybe she thought it was funny? Okay, things were going well. "The Shopping Mall", "Hand me the Puck", "Julie" and "I Sing like a Casserole" were next. I don`t really sing like a casserole, don`t worry, it`s just a joke song. We ended that part with "The Arsenic Cake", a song we sto- uh, I mean, took from a cartoon movie and made it jazzier.

After an intermission, we were on the stage again, this time taking songs from "Atrocious-Tonic". We sang "The Scorpion Song", "Hong Kong Blues", "King of England" (I looked at Blaze furtively when singing this), "Dédé", "Just a Lil` Night", "The World is Goddamn Cute" (yes, that`s really the name of that song), and we ended with "Bad Character".

After the second intermission, my band was ready to face the more serious side of the show. I had planned to sing all the songs on that album. I dunno however if my band would agree on that… nine songs from "October Outside", would they stand the darkness?

You know what I did? I took out my acoustic guitar and sang "The Answerer", a slow song, sad but full of meaning to me. All I needed was my voice and the guitar. I think I saw a tear falling down Blaze`s cheek. It is a sad song, indeed.

For that song, my band mates weren`t needed, so I let them go backstage, leaving their instruments on stage. As soon as I ended "The Answerer", I went backstage, and I was happy to see them ready to play.

"Okay guys, it`s the end. We`ll do some songs from "October Outside", then we end with Belzebuth, and when we`ll be done… we wait for the riches!" I heard them clapping hands, high-fiving, and I motioned them to the stage. Blaze was still there, and she was applauding with the audience. Once in a while, she was using binoculars like the ones rich people used when going to see a play. You know, the ones with a handle, the ones which make you look snob no matter how you use them? Yes, that kind of binoculars.

What did we sing from "October Outside"? We began with "Get Out of the Way", which was followed by "And if at Least", "Alone", "So Long" and "October Outside". We waited for the public to applause the performance. We were ready to end the show with Belzebuth, the song.

"I`m livin` in an apartment…" I began. What`s fun with this song is that the beginning has no music at all. It`s like reciting a poem. Then, as soon as the sentence "Gotta eat them, I dunno why" ends, the flutist enters and I start scratching my guitar, in a low sound. The following verses are smooth, with only the flute and my guitar, however when the cat escapes the apartment, it turns jazz, the drummer comes in, the bongo players too, and the second guitarist as well.

While we sang, I noticed a tick on my acts. Every time the lyrics mentioned Elyzabeth, I was nervously looking at Blaze… no, I shouldn`t have done that. She`ll doubt on something.

Finally, the song ended with the happy part, when the cat joins the sky, having grown wings over his shoulders and his back. Then, as he says he "tastes happiness, he`s not hurried", the real lyrics end and the final two minutes are gibberish, la la la, uh uh uh, the kind of tiny word that does not mean a thing.

And the beat went on, my gibberish sped up, and the musicians as well. I looked at Blaze again. She was clapping hands in beat, but I could guess from this far that she didn`t know the beat was speeding up, and she wasn`t in synch with the people in the room who knew the song and sped up with us.

Okay, here it comes. My breath is still there, I should survive the note.

"Dala-la-la-la-la-la-aaaaa…"

In a shot like in a video clip, I imagined the camera showing me for a second, then the flutist, the eagle guitarist, the drummer, the bongo players, until it went in a circle to show us all, while the final note is going on, until it finally ends.

"…aaaaa!"

The musicians stopped. We got a standing ovation. I left the stage after my friends. I blew kisses around to the public, waved goodbyes, and then penetrated the darkness behind the curtain to get to my private dressing room at the back.

Blaze`s POV

…Interesting.

That is the only word coming to my mind after the performance. This cat, Belzebuth, he is not ugly. Wait, I can't go think like a fan girl... I really liked his music however. Opak told me I should listen closely to the lyrics as they have hidden meanings. I did. But I also watched Belzebuth, what he was looking at when singing. It`s strange, sometimes he was looking at me, as if he KNEW from the beginning I was going to be there. I bet Opak told him. I looked at my dark blue bodyguard.

"Opak?"

"Yes, Princess Blaze?"

"Can you escort me to this Belzebuth`s room? I would exchange a few words with him."

He knew what it meant. When I do that, it`s because I liked what I heard or saw and wanted to thank the artist. And when I do this, it also means I will tell the Medias about it. The artist becomes instant fad. Being a princess is cool sometimes.

Opak left me in front of Belzebuth`s room. I gave him a break, which in the jargon of royalty here means that I told him he could leave. I know the way myself, and if anyone attacks… I`ll burn them to ashes. While we`re talking about that, why do my parents still want me to be protected by a bodyguard when I could burn a whole city with my hands?

I knocked at the door. He answered in a matter of seconds, and as soon as he saw me, he blushed. He looked like a black, red and white card game.

"Can I enter, mister Belzebuth?" (I mispronounced his name bell-zee-butt)

"It`s "bell-zay-butt, miss Blaze," he corrected, and let me enter. "Sorry for the mess around."

I took a quick look and noticed that, indeed, it was a mess in his room. There was no bed, however a wardrobe containing only stage items was resting in a corner. There was a maquillage spot, probably containing aftershave and deodorant. Aftershave? What am I talking about, he doesn`t have any beard. As for the other things in his room, there were two chairs, one facing the mirror and the other, a nice armchair with cushions. I grabbed the armchair, approached it near Belzebuth, while the black cat sat in the maquillage chair. I took a serious pose.

"I suppose you know what my visit is about?" I said in an overly serious tone.

"Hum… passing by for a hello?" he said jokingly, trying to hide that he was nervous.

"No, it`s more serious than that. I really liked your show, Belzebuth." He looked happy for that. "And you might be in the top ten list of singers I like. There is John The Wolf, Kain, the Frisky Cowboys…"

"The Frisky Cowboys? That group who denounces things in their songs? Like "Nothing", where Sol is destroyed and the last anthro of the whole planet tells his story?"

"Yes, that band," I answered. He understood what kind of music I liked. The kind of music that opens the eyes of the population, and mine at the same time on their problems. The Frisky Cowboys and the Roommates aren`t that different… I understood "Good God" was about unemployment… but I missed some hidden meanings, I`m sure of it.

"Well, we are not that different," Belzebuth said. "You were a simple girl, not a royal figure, and we`d fit together perfectly."

"You know, Belzebuth… wait, what did you say?"

"…royal figure… you`re a Queen, right?" the black cat said.

I got it. To make my prestige, the bodyguards passed the word that I was already the Queen… but I`m still a princess. I can`t live with that lie.

"No, I`m not Queen. I`m still a Princess. I`ll rise to a Queen only when I`ll find myself a husband."

Belzebuth didn`t seem to understand.

"Listen, everyone thought it would be better if I was treated like the Queen, because that way, I would know what will be in store for me after I find my soul mate. But I just can`t seem to find the one for me because of that Opak who blocks any possible relationship as soon as he smells danger, real or not."

"Yeah, his dark blue fur with paler blue stripes in the back really gives him an obscure look… an opaque look, to say so."

I giggled. I never noticed that, but yes, my bodyguard got a name fitting him. Well, at least my name isn`t Lavender… Belzebuth looked like he had an idea.

"…And Silver? I saw you two some years ago, you were getting along pretty well."

I avoided his eyes.

"Yes… how we fought Iblis, and when we went to Mobius… yes, it was fun. But when we began a true relationship, with dating and everything…" Belzebuth was listening to me with ears wide open. "I found out he was over-possessive. We broke up early after I decided it was a bad idea to have him for King."

"How did he take the news?" Belzebuth asked me.

"Quite bad, actually… I almost had to burn him to ashes for him to understand."

"Wow… that bad?"

"Well, he menaced to use his ESP and I told him I`d use my own firepower against him, but he knew that if he attacked the future Queen he would become the Number 1 enemy of the whole world. So he surrendered and found himself a girlfriend, not as rich, but in my opinion, even more beautiful in looks and personality than me."

"And that`s rare," Belzebuth commented.

I wondered if he was trying to flirt with me. "It`s cool that there are groups like yours to make people happy while telling them the truth about the condition of the population. I bet you`re happy about it."

Belzebuth sighed. "If only…" He looked at his feet.

"What, is something wrong?" I held his hands as he began sobbing.

"No, nothing`s… right." I should have guessed he meant the exact opposite of what I asked him. Nothing`s right means that everything`s wrong. And that also means that the happy singer I came to see was not the happy cat I hoped to meet.

"What`s the problem, Belzebuth?" I asked.

"Quit calling me by my show name! On stage everything`s fine, my band is popular, people are happy to see us… But outside, the name`s Dédé. And we`re not always as happy as we say."

"I don`t understand," I told him. "On stage, everything looks so fine, you`re playing in unison, your tunes are funny, they have a deep message but it`s awesome to listen to them."

"NO, YOU DON'T GET IT!" He yelled, throwing me off my chair for a short moment. Then he opened his bag of secrets and spilled them all on me. How his drug addict friend had problems, how his first harmonica player died from AIDS, the time his alcoholic friend got sent to the hospital, and everything that went wrong in his life. I wanted to cry. It was so terrible; I never thought a normal citizen could have so many problems.

"But now that I told you, Ely… Blaze, I feel better. I needed an ear to listen to me."

"Wait, what did you say?" I asked.

"I said "I needed an ear"…"

"No, before…"

"Blaze, I feel better?"

"Before…"

"Now that I told you…"

"After…"

"Ely…"

And then it struck me. There was only one thing he didn`t dare to tell me, and I found out myself – with a tongue-in-cheek name mistake from him. Lyrics from his song Belzebuth came back to my mind.

_While escaping this place, I am stopped in my way  
__I recognized someone at the end of the alley  
__She who by my window, has entered in my heart  
__Like a lost bullet, a female cat in heat_

_It`s in an old warehouse, Elyzabeth welcomes me  
__Before they all burst in, do it fast, do it now  
__I recall the panthers, not all`s bad on TV  
__I know just what to do, got no need to ask how_

Ugh, if I knew Belzebuth was talking about me in the song, I would have slapped him just at the word "heat". But… wait a minute…

"When you wrote the song`s lyrics of Belzebuth, you were thinking about me, right Dédé?"

He blushed. "What makes you say that?"

"The name of the cat`s lover, Elyzabeth… If I cut the letters out and place some of them in a different order, I get Blaze. The other letter form "they" or "yet h"."

Now he really blushed. "Wow, I never thought you would get that."

"And every time you mentioned that cat in the song, you were looking at me, as if there was a link, as if I was the Elyzabeth of the song."

There was a final secret in his bag which didn`t spill on me, and I took it out for him. He was astonished.

"Why hide it now? Blaze… I love you." He said that all of a sudden, like it was obvious or something. Now it was, before I would have called him a pervert or I would have slapped him, or I would have assumed he was telling me that to get me in his bed like any rock star does… but no, he sounded totally serious.

"I`m a Romeo rock star, I was bringing girls in my bed and made them live what they wanted, but I was never happy. Because the girl I had the eyes on since high school was at a way higher social level than me. You are the only one I would be happy with. You`re the love I`ve always wanted, the Julie who will never leave me."

He referenced a song by his band where the girl is deemed a few years too young for him, so she leaves and he tells her to come back when she`ll be twenty.

"But I`m the same age as you, so your analogy doesn`t work."

"Yes, that`s true. Blaze, I love you, and I know it`s too early for anything, so I was just wondering… would you go on a date with me one day?"

I had to think that. I never expected the visit to the singer to end like that. Him, asking me on a date?

"I will have to think about it, Dédé. I can`t say anything."

"Yes, but you said you needed someone to be your King before becoming Queen. And with my knowledge of the citizen`s problems, I would be perfect, with your help I`d make this world a better place to live, repair the inequalities and save lives."

He was taking it very far. He had good arguments, but it can`t work so easily. Opak will never let me. Oh, and shit about it. I approached and pecked him on the cheek.

"You know? I think you would be okay. I`m not saying that my parents will approve, but I am a good convincer. If I can find arguments to have you as a boyfriend, then you might soon become a King."

If he was not on a chair, he would have fallen off balance. I think it was a big revelation for him. Well, me too I was surprised after all; a band singer revealing me that despite all the girls he did, he had eyes for the only one he would never get… It felt weird. But Belzebuth was cute in a way. Those anti-dust glasses on his forehead were quite a style. And that black fur… Wait, am I getting interested too? I looked at the Romeo in front of me. He had charm, and he was cute, plus he was young, just my age. He was now stressed as never before.

"I`ll let your band be part of my musical tastes. Celebrity will strike you, Belz… Dédé."

He blushed as I used his real name. "Thanks, Blaze. If I could do that without any problem, I`d kiss you."

"I never said you couldn`t."

Now he was bright red in the face.

"Wouldn`t it be sexual harassment?" he asked, unsure.

"Not if you have my permission." And I leaned in, my lips ready to rest over his.

And he approached too. We shared our first kiss in the theater`s room, and I felt like the Elyzabeth of the song.

_And our hearts are purring in a moment of loving  
__For all draft evaders it is pure ecstasy  
__Elyzabeth`s singing love much decibels too high  
__The alley thus awoke, shaking things in the night_

I moaned once too loud. No, we never went that far. But just the feeling of the kiss made me moan.

Belzebuth`s POV

Wow, it occurred like a dream come true in the middle of the night before Christmas. I enjoyed the kiss, it was so normal to kiss a girl, but all the charm of it is that I was kissing a princess. Not a poor girl, not just a rich girl… but a royalty girl. But after we broke, she moaned. Maybe she just liked it. I gotta admit my cat tongue has wrestled very often, in the time fan girls would have paid me to sleep in my bed. But now I would even refuse the highest worth bills and greatest sums of rings. I found the girl I wanted. And I wanted her for the rest of my life. I would have wanted that second to last forever…

Then, I do not know why, but I felt like the place was getting overcrowded… just then I heard a loud yell from outside. "Princess Blaze?" Damn. Opak. "Why is it taking so long?" Blaze stressed as she heard her bodyguard.

"Oh no, if he ever finds out that we began an unofficial relationship, it might be the death of you! What to do what to do what to do?"

I got an idea. Then it disappeared from my mind. I had no idea what to do anymore. Unless… "I`ll escape by the window, you lie to Opak and I should be safe."

The worst ideas are taken when we`re in a hurry. And this was taken in a hurry. Worst. Idea. Ever. I mean it. As I jumped through the window, Opak entered by force in the loge and I don't know what he saw because I was already running at full speed, like the Belzebuth of the song after he got cornered by Colonel and his fifty demon cat minions.

_Fifty rabid cats are invading the hangar  
__All of the alley cats try cutting off my neck  
__Now`s the taste of the blood and the smell of the war  
__Hair`s flying in the air, and my body is wreck_

Oh no, the royal guards are after me now. I see them in the distance, they`re aiming at me with their weapons and they`re approaching. I try to escape by entering the theater, but it`s another idea taken in a rush, as my brain didn`t realize Opak guessed it`s the first thing I`d try. I enter the theater and look through the door at the guards who stop, wondering where I went. It`s just then that I turn around and get face to face with Opak. He whistled and the guards entered the theater, forcing me inside an anthro circle they formed around me. Opak looked at the scene, clearly amused.

"You eat sushis, eh? I eat enemies like you for breakfast, brunch, lunch, lunchinner, dinner, during movies and for snacks."

"Wow, you really eat a lot." Bad call, Dédé. Now you`ll be lucky if you come out of this battle in Meow Mix.

_From north, from south, from east, from west  
__There`s no way to escape, and no way out of this  
__Now Colonel arrives, all the cats go away  
__At first I think that he came to scare them away_

Oh no… Blaze is behind, brought out of my loge by another guard. Apparently brought by force. I looked at Opak a second time. He was really angry, just as he might have been in those so-called wars he said he fought in.

"And I thought I could trust you." His voice was dark. So dark. And on a scary tone. "You betrayed me, and you abused the Princess. You will pay for that."

_An angry silence, Elyzabeth`s scared  
__If he is her lover I`ve made a big mistake_

Lights behind him lit up and his whole image appeared to me as if he was the only spot of darkness in the room. The guards let Opak enter the circle, and he showed me his knife blade. And before I could say a final time to my Elyzabeth, Blaze, that I loved her beyond body and soul, Opak`s claw went though me.

_A halo of light reveals his whole silhouette  
__Looks at me with anger, negative feelings flood  
__And as I was saying farewell Elyzabeth  
__He takes out his blade, his only metal claw  
__Which goes through my soul, and lets leak my blood_

Badly injured, I jumped out of the circle and escaped.

"Let him go, his injury will kill him."

"Opak! How dared you!"

Was that Blaze taking my defense? I could no more hear a thing, I was scared to die, I was scared to suffer, I was scared of never living real love, I was like the Belzebuth of the song, gonna end my life after only a glimpse of what the life I`ve dreamt of could offer.

I ran on many meters, which looked like kilometers, then grew as if these were miles and as if it would be impossible for me to find a way to heal. But I kept running away and away, and as my fear of death grew, my running speed rose to an alarming level, I felt like a Formula One on two legs, a cat Sonic the Hedgehog, whatever, but I had never run that fast.

_Kilometers, kilometers, thirsts in the throat, my legs are sore  
__I simply cannot stop running, or I`m not alive anymore  
__Caught in fire, I feel reborn; I`m running faster than despair  
__I am yelling like a crazy, I have never been that much scared_

If I could turn like Belzebuth into an angel now, like in the song, it would be so awesome. But in the song, it`s what reveals that actually, Belzebuth finally died and his escape was futile as his injury killed him in the end. And this Belzebuth was a young male cat who did nothing bad except make love to Elyzabeth… (What, you expected this song to be totally pure? Maybe in the song it happens but I never thought of Blaze that way, I guess I was thinking about my hundreds of crazed female fans) …and he deserved his place in the paradise of cats, with his full grown wings letting him fly over the dead suburb. If I were to wish for those wings to grow, it would be like wishing I was already dead.

_I feel, I feel, wings are growing, these will help me escape the herd  
__Transformation I`ve been waiting, I`m no more me now I`m a bird  
__I will be safe I`m sure of it, I think I distanced my enemy  
__I got only five seconds left, lost too much blood, now Death got me_

…I fainted and drifted to a coma… have my wings grown? Did I turn into a winged cat? Have I reached the paradise? Or is it my mind buzzing as I am on the verge of death?

_Flying over my dead suburb  
__I thank the wind carrying me  
__I think about Elyzabeth  
__She must wonder where I have been  
__Lost my ninth and ultimate life  
__I guess I deserved some comfort  
__I have done well to leave earlier  
__My heart prefers the life of bird_

…Blackout. Total darkness in my head, no thought squiggles around anymore, only the final official lyrics of Belzebuth.

_Any day, Sunday, I can now go anywhere  
__As long as I`ll be wearing wings  
__I`ll go where my heart`s calling me  
__There`s no way I`m going back down  
__Unless it is only to eat  
__But as of now, it sure can wait  
__I taste happiness, I`m not hurried_

…

…

…

Next thing I know, or I feel, is my brain is turned to off and I rest on a large hospital bed. There`s crying around me, people looking at me, a mountain of roses and gifts of all kinds at the end of the bed, and a beautiful lavender cat resting her head on the side of my bed, crying all the tears her eyes have in stock behind those golden pupils.

My band is all there, and a compact disk player constantly hums my happy tunes, my sad songs, and the whole collection of thirty successes only, playing non-stop.

And I was there, like an omniscient narrator, not alive but not dead, more in-between, as if my soul was still alive in a dead body.

_La la… la la la la… la la la la… la la la…  
__Ah la la la… la la la la… la la la la… la la la la…_

It`s like I could hear everything around, my alcoholic pal swearing to quit alcohol forever if I don't come out of this alive, my drug addict friend who swears to enter a rehab center to quit sniffing, and all my other friends who cry as if it was already my funerals. It`s like I was aware of everything around me without showing signs of life. Is that death? Or am I only in a coma? I will know only if I wake up. But it would be like asking a rock to walk on all fours.

Impossible.

_Ah la la la… ah la la la… ah la la la… la la la la  
__Ah la la la, la… ah la la la, la… ah la la… la la la…_

My mind was still awake, I knew it. As if on the control panel of my brain, someone had messed up everything, turned on or off some switches. I would have liked to hug Blaze but my body responded to nothing. I could hear again my friends.

"It has been a week, we`re feeding him by tubes, and it`s too difficult."

"Come on, guys, you have to stay confident."

It was Blaze. "The night it happened, Belzebuth, uh… Dédé told me everything about the band`s problems. I know it is another rough step for you guys, but don`t go depressed like you did for the whole October Outside album and stay confident."

She probably spent all her time here, listening to our festive music playing nonstop behind. She heard all our albums now. I think I could hear her cry while October Outside was playing Belzebuth, the song.

Nine painful minutes of hearing a girl cry over a song representing her second crush. I`d wish I could kill myself after the first minute. How painful it was not to be able to move! I couldn`t comfort her, I couldn't do a thing. After a while, I heard footsteps and a door closing. My friends and my Elyzabeth were gone. For now. I knew they would come back soon.

_Uh, ha, oh, hah! Oh hah! Huh hah, heh! Huh hey, huh-la  
__Uh, ah, hey! Uh, uh, uh, hey! Ho hah! La!_

Many hours later, maybe a day later, I don`t know, my mind loses track of time while it`s in darkness, someone came in.

"Belzebuth, I am so sorry about what happened." It was Blaze again. If I could, I`d hug her. "But my parents will not fire Opak until you`re declared dead. On my side, I gave him a severe warning about what happened. I criticized his zeal and the fact that he never listens to me when I try to explain things."

Well, that explains why he attacked me; Blaze didn't tell him a thing, he understood by looking at the open window, and thought I had abused her, kissed her without her permission. Wait, he killed me for a misunderstanding? A speed guess? If I could swear, I`d say every curse word I have in mind.

"I told my parents about our relationship and they said that I could never be with a low-class cat like you. That`s the exact words they said. I convinced them that you could be a great king since you lived a lot of terrible things and know what are the population`s problems."

I`d cry if I could.

"But they said you lacked the statute since you`re not a prince. I asked them why they agreed for Silver then, and they answered that it was because he had saved me countless times in the past."

All my hopes disappeared.

"I could not tell a thing, but I am going to try and convince them. I`ll find your Roommates and tell them to say good things about you to my parents. If they see you`re really a good person, maybe they`ll accept."

Why not? After all I heard of princes who were evil, and a princess sometimes should choose the poor peasant with a big heart instead of the rich prince with a dark mind. Blaze left the place and left me to my vegetative state.

_Huh! Oh la la, la la la, uh, la la la, huh la la  
__Huh la la, oh la la, hah la la, Heyuh, ha!_

Some time later, maybe the next day, I don't know, Blaze arrived in the hospital room with my alcoholic pal.

"Dédé, I don`t know if you hear us, but if you do…" he began. "If you come out of the hospital, I`ll quit drinking. I swear."

Blaze maybe had a tear when she saw how my friends were ready to abandon their problems if I survived. Deep inside I thought I could survive thanks to my friends and my crush`s help.

"I went to see Blaze`s parents and I told them all I knew about you. How you are always nice, how your songs are used to make people happy, how everything is fine around you."

"But my parents are knuckleheads. They said that a singer who has already spent nights with many, many girls will cheat on their daughter and be a bad king, like some were in the past, with illegitimate children and the like."

Shit. I would not be like that but it looks like her parents don't trust anyone easily. I suppose they searched their daughter for weapons, only seconds after her birth. If I could laugh at the though…

"I tried to convince them, Dédé, but they had deaf ears or something, they never listened." Poor me, it will never work. My alcoholic friend has not been of help.

"I`ll try again, Belzebuth. I`ll find a way to have you near me."

In dream, I shed a tear. After she closed the door, my still alive soul began thinking about all that.

_Hah la, lalala la, telelelelelelelele…  
__Lalalalalalalalalala, hum ee ha, um haaaaaaaa!_

Later on, Blaze came back. I heard her coming, with someone else. I recognized the other one just by his unequal footsteps. My drug addict. He spoke to me in his big black accent. hat was part of the charm, it`s a way to see he`s from another country. My band has welcomed many foreign people. My harmonica player who died from AIDS was French, and the alcoholic… right now I don`t remember. But I think the drug addict is from a southern country where it`s always hot.

My friend and Blaze told me they tried to argument with the King and Queen, but once again they found something to refute what they were saying. Blaze was persistent however, and feared that she went too far by admitting she was deeply I love with the romantic I hide under a fat layer of rock star, but they didn`t believe her. And when my friend told them I would be one of the best picks for her, they just said that my reputation of "love-maker" (the term they use for any guy who slept with many, many girls) was a little too big for that.

Blaze began crying again. It was now almost official that she had no chance to be with me. They left as soon as Belzebuth the song began, Blaze couldn`t stand to hear it. She left the room crying.

_Ta, la la la, la, dah la la, la, talalalala…  
__Tedeledele de la de le laaaah…_

Blaze came a final time in the room, some time later. The whole band was here with her, because I couldn't distinguish any footstep, as if a crowd had walked here. In my mind, I pictured them all, in front of my bed, preparing to tell me they were victorious over the King`s arguments.

But I was deceived as I heard they couldn`t convince the king, no matter everything they said about me. They said I was a good cat, a Romeo hidden under the covers of fandom, the best friend they ever had, but apparently, nothing could convince the King.

In a final depression move, she went and kissed me on the lips. As if her saliva had a magical ingredient I needed to come back to life, I opened the eyes… My heart beat came back to normal, it was not beating on slow motion anymore…

"I`m really like an inverted story tale." Good call, Dédé… she`ll never understand.

"Sleeping Beauty? Well, I guess my kiss woke you up. Yes, that`s an inverted fairy tale."

Oh, well finally, she understood.

"I`m so happy, you are alive, man." That was my afro fox friend.

"I stopped drinking," the alcoholic said.

"And I decided to try and stop the cocaine by myself," my drug addict said. I`ll need to find another nickname for him.

"Well, I see my out-of-body experience went better than I thought…" I said.

"Out-of-body?" Blaze asked.

"Yeah, it`s like I was conscious but I just couldn`t move at all… it was really weird, you know. But I heard it all…" I grabbed Blaze`s hands. "So our love can`t live at all, that`s it?"

_Tatetetete de le da la de la  
__Dala-la-la-la-la-la-aaaaa…_

Blaze sighed, and then told me exactly what I feared the most.

"After your whole band went in front of my parents to tell them the situation, tell them about you, and tell them of what you are deep inside, they got an idea."

"What?" I asked, fearing worse than before.

"Well, they said that they would rather hear it from the cat himself. They want you to be in front of them and tell them what you are, what you feel for me, and also what you might change if you indeed become king."

"Wait, I`ll have to be overly good to talk with your parents! Just the stress will make me say stupid answers!"

_aaaaaaaaaaaaa…_

"No. I`m sure you can do it," Blaze said, pecking me on the cheek. I blushed.

"Not in front of my band mates, Blaze!"

"Ah come on man," my alcoholic pal said. "As if you never French-kissed a girl in front of us. We`ve seen you kissing more often than singing." Good job, man. Now Blaze`s gonna get offended.

"Guys, if I can be with Blaze, I wanna put all that behind me and start a new life. Just like you swore you`d do with your own addictions."

Blaze smiled at what I said. Luckily, because one day or another, the cat would get my tongue to talk.

"You promise to be true if you really come with me?" she asked.

"Hey! Why don`t you trust me on that? Deep inside I`m a romantic hidden under thick layers of band singer pride. But I wouldn`t say no to get out of those layers to reveal the true me. The "me" I want to fall in love with you…"

Adding anything about the girls who spent a night in my bed would now make me lose any hope. So I just shut up on that part. Besides, Blaze knows about my past now. I`m sure she guessed by now she wouldn`t be my first but my tenth or more.

I looked a final time at Blaze.

"Okay. I`ll convince your parents myself."

_Aaaaa!_

_..._

We are now today. Of course, if we weren`t today I would have used a past tense. Or maybe the future. So I am now in front of the castle where Blaze resides with her parents, the King and Queen of Sol.

A servant redirects me to the throne room, where Blaze is waiting in a corner, looking at me. Just to see her will give me courage. She puts a finger to her lips, to tell me that she isn`t supposed to be there. I look again at the King and the Queen. I gulp down all my scare and get ready for any question they will ask. The King finally opens the mouth and asks me to resume my life until now.

Wish me good luck. No, wait – wish me to break a leg.

* * *

Phew. That was a colossal piece of writing. I leave it on a cliffhanger so you can get to think what you want. You can get to imagine the decision. On my side I just could not decide anything; I had a few choices…

A – Belzebuth wins it and gets to be with Blaze;

B – Belzebuth is offered something: a spot as a counselor from the public; something where he gets to be with Blaze, in an unofficial relationship, while she reigns alone with him being her lover, though he`s working for her too;

C – He wins, but Opak decides to ruin it, so they argue but Belzebuth wins;

D – He loses, but Blaze comes in and tells them something that makes then change their opinion;

E – He loses, so he leaves, heartbroken by another failure, now decided in committing suicide, and well… turns this story very dark.

The E was my choice to make the story end like the original story. The others would be good endings.

* * *

Now, Belzebuth (or rather Dédé, let`s not hide it) is based on a real singer. You never heard of him if you speak English. His name was Dédé Fortin. He was the singer of the French group Les Colocs (hence the English name The Roommates). He was a party animal, to say the least. A very fun guy. We never expected what he did on May 5th, 2000.

First off, Dédé Fortin is a Quebecois. You know the French province of Canada… He was a separatist like many more Quebec residents, which means he was ready for Quebec to become a country itself, i.e. separate from Canada. (Here I go with my History class…)

At the beginning of his career, his songs were light-hearted, people wanted to dance every time they heard songs like that, it was fun. However, his band was already not totally smiling.

In the band, he welcomed Mike Sawatzky, a Cree from Saskatchewan. He was an alcoholic and somewhere between 1995 and 2000, he spent a long time in hospital after another drunken night. It was an especially rough time for the band Les Colocs. André Vanderbiest was a Belgian, he was bald and he had an addiction on cannabis. His story is given to another character on this one-shot, but I noticed it too late. Also, Patrick Esposito Di Napoli, from French Catalonia, was the firs harmonica player of the band; he had AIDS, and between the first album in 1993 and their second album in 1995, he died from this. He`s mentioned a few times in this one-shot as the dead band member. As for the other band members, they are not as important as Dédé and them. At least for this story.

You understood by now that their life has never been easy. They lived in poverty, even though they were loved by many fans. The story of the fan girls was true, they were really that popular. (The small wink at Belzebuth tap-dancing with another girl while his girlfriend sees them is a scene from the homage movie made in 2009) Despite everything they went through, they kept up and gained fame. But cash never really came in.

Then, the down of it all. In 1995, the night of the referendum whether Quebec should stay with Canada or become a country itself, Les Colocs were ready to launch their new album, Atrocetomique (here transformed to Atrocious-Tonic), and they played their best show, claiming their pride to be Quebecois and not French Canadians. Sadly, as if it was not enough, the province almost won it; they lost at a few %s away from 50. Atrocious-Tonic was a commercial success, however Les Colocs felt downer than they`ve ever felt. Even Mike Sawatzky, who was from Saskatchewan, wanted the province of Quebec to become a country of its own (the reason is however related to history, and I would need one more page to explain).

After this, a series of unfortunate events led the band to have many, many problems. The drug and the alcohol were digging in the band`s wallet and it was not happiness. Since everything was going wrong and they were getting depressed, they decided to release it all in what they do best: sing. And they released "Dehors Novembre" (literally November Outside), an album containing only nine songs. Their best-selling album of all time. It had sad songs with deep messages, and Belzebuth was the first song of the album. The title track, a prose song, is a dying man`s point of view and was dedicated to Patrick Esposito Di Napoli.

After all that despair came out, they felt a lot better, and things were getting good. But Dédé got a new disease that everyone has: it`s called aging. He was 33 by the time Atrocetomique came out. When Dehors Novembre came out, he was 35, and he was 38 in 2000. He couldn`t stand the aging, and he could see time go on, and so he committed hara-kiri, a Japanese ritual by disembowelment.

In 2009 a movie was made to honor Dédé Fortin and the group Les Colocs. It was called "Dédé à travers les brumes" (Dédé through the fog)

Now, you understood the original singer, Dédé, sings in French. As such, for the needs of this fanfiction, I translated his songs` titles to English. If you are interested, look those songs up on Youtube. First is the English title used in the fanfic, second is the real name.

Dédé – Dédé  
Hand me the puck – Passe-moé la puck  
I Sing like a Casserole – Je chante comme une casserole  
The World is Goddamn Cute – Maudit qu`le monde est beau  
Just a Lil` Night – Juste une tite nuite  
The Scorpion Song – La chanson du scorpion  
The Shopping Mall - La rue principale  
Good God - Bon yeu  
Atrocious-Tonic - Atrocetomique  
Hong Kong Blues – Hong Kong blues  
King of England – Le roi d`Angleterre  
Bad Character – mauvais caractère  
Special Iced Arsenic Cake – Le pouding à l`arsenic  
Belzebuth - Belzébuth  
And if at Least – Pis si ô moins  
Get Out of the Way – Tassez-vous de d`là  
The Answerer (maybe The Answering Machine) – Le répondeur  
Alone – Tout seul  
So Long – Tellement longtemps  
November Outside – Dehors Novembre

R.I.P. Dédé Fortin, 1962-2000  
"Colonel got you under the blade of your depression"


End file.
